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Iran appointed a new central bank governor on Wednesday as its currency hit a record high against the dollar as its economic crisis sparked mass protests.
President Masoud Pezeshkian cabinet Former Economy Minister Abdulnasser Hemati has been appointed as the new governor of the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran reported.
Hemati replaces Mohammad Reza Farzin, who resigned on Monday, a day after Iran’s currency, the rial, fell to a record low, triggering some of the country’s largest protests in three years.
Experts say an inflation rate of 40% has fueled public dissatisfaction. On Wednesday, the dollar was worth 1.38 million rials, compared with 430,000 rials when Falzin takes office in 2022. On Sunday, many merchants and shopkeepers closed their businesses and took to the streets. Tehran and other cities to protest.
Government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani wrote on X that Hemati’s agenda will include focusing on controlling inflation and strengthening the currency, as well as addressing bank mismanagement.
Hematy, 68, previously served as economic and financial affairs minister under Pezeshkian. In March, parliament fired Hemati over alleged mismanagement and accused his policies of undermining the strength of the Iranian rial against hard currencies.
A combination of rapid currency depreciation and inflationary pressures has pushed up the price of food and other daily necessities, exacerbating pressure on household budgets under pressure from Western sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program.
inflation With gasoline prices changing in recent weeks, the situation is expected to worsen.
“Any effort to turn protests over economic issues into insecurity, destroy public property or implement foreign scenarios will face… a strong reaction,” the Mizanonline news outlet quoted Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi Azad as saying on Wednesday.
Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar when the 2015 nuclear deal was signed, which lifted international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on Iran’s nuclear program. The agreement fell apart after the president took office Donald Trump In 2018, during his first term, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement.
On Wednesday, local judicial official Hamid Ostvar in southern Iran denied that a young man had been killed during protests, Mizanonline reported.
Ostvar, the head of the Ministry of Justice in the southern Iranian city of Fassa, said the protests turned violent after a crowd broke into the governor’s office and injured three police officers. Four protesters were arrested, he said.
Merchants and traders in Tehran’s main bazaar, as well as in the southern city of Shiraz and the western city of Kermanshah, closed shops, witnesses said Wednesday.